Turkish troops pursue Kurdish rebels into Iraq

It follows overnight attacks on military installations in Hakkari province, near the Iraqi border, which killed at least 24 Turkish soldiers.

The attacks are thought to have inflicted the biggest loss on Turkish forces since 1993 and President Abdullah Gul has vowed to avenge them.

In recent months, violence between the army and Kurdish rebels has mounted.

The attacks come a day after a blast in the south-east Bitlis province killed five police officers and three others.

Dozens of members of the country's security forces, and at least 17 civilians, have been killed since mid-July.

Turkey has responded with a police crackdown on suspected rebel sympathisers and air strikes on Kurdish sites in northern Iraq. Scores of insurgents have died.

Guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, are seeking greater autonomy in the country's Kurdish-dominated south-east.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict since 1984.

The latest violence - thought to be at least two simultaneous ambushes - took place in Cukurca and the district of Yuksekova overnight.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 24 soldiers were killed and 18 injured, revising an earlier figure of 26 dead.

He said the army had launched "hot pursuit" operations. Security sources and Turkish media said commandos crossed the border by helicopter, and had gone several miles into Iraq.

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